Bulls Fan Starts GoFundMe to Raise Money for Billboard Protesting Front Office
Chicago Bulls fans have reached their tipping point. After the team traded Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves on draft night, one disgruntled fan created a GoFundMe page for a "FireGarPax" billboard.
Fed up with general manager Gar Forman and executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson, Brendon Henderson started the collection on behalf of the Bulls subreddit. Along with the Butler deal, he also expressed displeasure in Chicago's selling its second-round pick to the Golden State Warriors, who selected Jordan Bell.
"This past NBA draft is the final straw," Henderson wrote on the GoFundMe page. "Not only did we trade Jimmy Butler for a value equivalent to a Diet Sprite and a Snickers bar, but we traded away one of the best defensive talents in the 2nd round for... cash???"
Created Friday, the page had more than doubled its initial $2,000 goal by Saturday morning. Henderson hopes to raise as much as $15,000 to purchase "the ultimate billboard" in a high-traffic area.
Henderson wrote the money would go to the South Side YMCA of Metro Chicago if donations fell short of or exceeded the $15,000 goal. Yet even though he hit the initial goal, perhaps the attention the page is receiving will erase any need for a billboard.
Why pay for an advertisement if the message is getting free publicity?
That money could do more than create a sign that demands Forman and Paxson lose their jobs. Campaigning for them to get fired is a cruel plan, even if they foolishly delayed a necessary rebuild with short-term signings before then trading their franchise cornerstone for quarters on the dollar.
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